Friends of the Earth

Friends of the Earth have been working in Slovakia since 1996 as a non-profit organisation protecting the environment and nature both in Slovakia and Europe.

They concentrate on minimalisation of pollution caused by waste and toxic substances. Marginally, they support sustainable solutions of ecological problems and study their economical and social impacts on the society.

While doing their best to stop activities dangerous both for humans and the nature, they are providing and realising sustainable solutions that would not be a threat to future generations and other forms of life.

Friends of the Earth do not depend on any governemnt, political party or group interests.

International activities

The most remarkable accomplishment of Friends of the Earth is its membership in the organisation Friends of the Earth International (FoEI – www.foei.org), the largest federation of ecological organisations in the world, acting in 70 countries.

We are members of these institutions as well: International POP´s Elimination Network (IPEN – www.ipen.org) - international network of 350 medical, environmental, consumer organisations and proffessionals from 65 countries for elimination of toxic persistent organic chemicals.

European Environmental Bureau (EEB – www.eeb.org) – federation of more than 140 European civil organisations working for the environment protection, aimed at improving legislation and strategies of the EU towards environmental sustainability. .

What we have achieved:

We have helped in implementing recycling waste program in more than 100 towns and villages, built up 800 composting places for local residents and villages free of charge.

We helped to stop the plans of building 4 bad incinerators intended to incinerate dangerous waste, which would cause pollution and health problems, and we stopped 4 plans for building a landfill in risky localities.

We realised more than 400 educational actions for people, municipal and state authorities and representatives of industrial firms. We gave them more than 500 000 pieces of information materials.

Thanks to our cooperation with Palarikovo town, the amount of waste has reduced by 70% since 1999.

We proposed 12 concrete, various measures to prevent waste generation and toxic pollution, support recycling and consumers' protection as a part of Waste Packing Acts.

FoES has been awarded two times by international „Sasakawa Peace Foundation“ as „The Best Non–comercial Environmental Project of the Year Slovakia“. In 2003 we also got „Prize of Minister of environment of the SR“ for our work and protection of the environment.

Our current campaigns

Waste

Toxic pollution

Separation of waste is more than inevitable nowadays,. In spite of the clear environmental , economical, and social benefits, the efficient separation is still not sufficiently distributed. FoE help communities in implementing and spreading this way of handling the waste by education of municipalities,counceling , information campaigns and legislation changes.

One of the most-feared poisonous chemicals are „persistent organic pollutants“.They do not decompose in the long term, they accumulate in organisms and there is a variety of side-effects. They cause damage to the immune and hormonal systems, some of them are carcinogenic.

The majority of communal waste consists of the biological waste.. We can obtain efficient fertilisers, energy or even alternative fuel from bio waste. However, in the SR, the majority is eliminated at waste dumps or burnt without any utilisation. FoE perform activities aimed at changing of handling bio waste to composting.

Despite the fact that the health care should protect our health, it causes many negative effects to the environment. The icinerators of hospital waste are among the most significant sources of emissions of toxic dioxines. Absence of the separation and prevention of waste production are the causes of production of huge amount of dangerous waste. In our health care system, dangerous materials are used as well.

The amount of waste from packages is increasing. Nature and streets are polluted by illegally dropped waste, mailny packages. There are more reasons for this: replacing returnable packages by one-shot ones, increase in multiple, useless packages... FoE are trying to save more ecological returnable packages and develop the more rational way of packing, deposition and high rate of recyclation.

Intention to build a waste dump at an unsuitable location. Inappropriate plan of an incinerator that would supress development of separation , increase fees and would have negative impact on the environment. Such projects keep emerging and threatening citizens who usually have neither sufficient knowledge, nor legal ways to protect their right to healthy environment.. That is why FoE offer them professional and legal counceling in such cases.

Canadian company Tournigan Gold is trying to open a new uranium mine in Jahodniky, only 6-8 km from Kosice. Danger for water sources of Kosice (just a few hundred meters from important fresh water source VN Bukovec), thousands of liters of toxic and radioactive waste that will be a danger for almost 250 000 citizens ... these are just a few of negative impacts. FoE are trying to prevent this project from realising.

Waste

Toxic pollution

Everyone theoretically agrees that the prevention of waste production should come at thze first place. In reality, however, the trend is opposite- the amount of waste increases each year. FoE promote systematic changes for decrease of the waste production, help municipalities realise prevention,educationm, talk to industries and realise practical actions.

There are no or almost any information about 90% of chemicals used in the EU concerning their effect on health and nature. Analyses have found 300 potentially dangerous chemicals in the bodies of Europeans. Many of them are connected with diseases such as cancer. FoE ask the EU to accept remedies for health and nature protection.

„Heading towards zero waste“is a modern and complex system of waste management , which concerns with elimination of the amount and danger of the waste, from design of products and packages, their utilisation to their elimination.. FoE help towns, citizens and industry to gradually realise these solutions.